Texas Man Sentenced to 25 Years for Ambassador Assassination Plot

Published May 30, 2013 at 9:41 AM | Updated at 10:38 AM PDT on May 30, 2013

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Mugshot of terror suspect Manssor Arbabsiar, 56, who pleaded guilty to plotting to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States.

A Texas man who admitted that he plotted to kill Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison.

Manssor Arbabsiar, a U.S. citizen who was born in Iran, pleaded guilty in October to two conspiracy charges and a murder-for-hire count. He admitted he was directed by Iranian military officials to go to Mexico on multiple occasions in 2011 to arrange the assassination attempt, which never occurred.

Arbabsiar lived in Corpus Christi, Texas, working in real estate and automobile sales since moving to the United States in 1977.

The government said he intended to kill the ambassador by planting explosives at a Washington restaurant and that he recognized the plan likely would result in mass casualties.

"A large number of bystanders who had done nothing other than chose to eat in a particular restaurant were very likely to be killed as a result of the assassination of the ambassador," the government said. "Nonetheless, Arbabsiar quickly dismissed the significance of those additional civilian casualties and on numerous occasions demonstrated a callous disregard for all those who would be killed."

Prosecutors said Arbabsiar told a confidential government source that killing innocent bystanders, including U.S. senators who the source suggested would likely be at the restaurant, was "no problem" and "no big deal."

The government said Arbabsiar also told law enforcement officials after his arrest that he had demanded at least $1 million for his involvement in the plot in addition to the $25,000 he was given by the Qods Force, a branch of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that in 2007 was designated by the U.S. Treasury Department as a supporter of the Taliban and terrorist organizations.

Prosecutors said the plot was thwarted only because the person Arbabsiar recruited to assist his co-conspirators happened to be working as a source for law enforcement.

Defense lawyers argued for leniency, saying Arbabsiar's crimes were undeniably serious but also "the result of a severe mental breakdown caused by a longstanding, untreated bipolar disorder, worsened by the death of his father and his best friend in the same year. Mr. Arbabsiar's criminal behavior is entirely aberrational, with no precedent in his life."

They asked for no more than a 10-year sentence and added: "He has had no involvement or interest in Middle Eastern or Iranian politics, and absolutely no involvement in any terrorism, international intrigue, or anything of the sort, until his involvement in this bizarre offense."